1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus including an imaging unit that can output, as pixel information, an electric signal after photoelectric conversion from pixels which are arbitrarily set as read targets among a plurality of pixels for imaging.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in the field of medicine, an endoscope system is used to observe internal organs of a subject. In the endoscope system, in general, an elongated flexible insertion portion is inserted into a body cavity of the subject, such as a patient, white light is emitted to body tissues in the body cavity through the insertion portion, and an imaging unit provided at a distal end of the insertion portion receives light reflected from the body tissues and forms an in-vivo image. As such, the captured body image is displayed on a monitor of the endoscope system. The user, such as a doctor, observes the body cavity of the subject using the in-vivo image displayed on the monitor of the endoscope system.
An endoscope system has been achieved, which can acquire images different from a normal image such as a fluorescence observation image along with a normal image formed by white light. As the endoscope system, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-034224 discloses a structure in which an imaging element for acquiring a normal image and an imaging element for acquiring another image are provided in a tip portion of an endoscope. In addition, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-336196 discloses a structure in which a switching mechanism or an adjustment mechanism is provided for each imaging optical system and each filter and one imaging element is used to acquire a normal image and another image.